4 Art Projects That Will Make You Slow Down and Take Notice

As a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern, one of the most frequent complaints I hear from my clients is that they feel stressed out and hectic. Parents come to my office after dropping their kids off at a class, between practices, or from play groups. They are busy making their homes enriched, wonderful places for their children to be. If their children don’t need them, their significant other does. I have teenagers come to my office feeling like they are under pressure, too – with schoolwork, conflict in their social groups, or the feeling of being pulled in too many directions. Even the little kids I see these days seem more frantic, being shuttled from activity to activity.

I also have a BA in Recreation. I am all for hobbies, classes, and pursuing your interests. But I also see a pattern among my clients where they fill all the gaps in their days, without leaving time to slow down and see what happens naturally. When you don’t leave some gaps of time, you miss out on some of the sweeter things in life. Small miracles start escaping you. You might stop noticing the tomato plant going from blossom to fruit in the backyard. You might move so fast you miss the lizard scuttling out of your way. The tiny and beautiful details of the world around you gets lost in the rush to get out the door and into the car, to move on to the next thing, the next group, activity, or event.

Even in the midst of a busy life, you can schedule in some time to slow down and learn how to hone your awareness again. Art can be really helpful in this process. Here are several art projects that you can do that will help you slow down and take notice.

1.       Cut a small rectangle out of the center of a piece of cardstock. Hold that piece of paper up about 8-10” from your face. Using colored pencils, draw only what you can see through that cut-out rectangle.  Use this frame to help narrow your focus, eliminate distractions, and take the time to notice all that goes on in that small, compact space.

2.       Go to a favorite place in nature, such as a park, field, or garden. Draw the outline of your hand on a piece of paper. Then place your hand on the ground. Lifting it up, look at what fit underneath that space, and draw it on your paper in as much detail as possible. Focus on how amazing it is that so much detail can fit in the palm of your hand.

3.       Close your eyes and think about your favorite place to visit. Try to imagine you are there, using all of your senses. Use markers and paper to try to recreate it on paper, trying to get in as many details as you can. If someone you know has been there also, enlist their help in coming up with an even richer description, or see if they can recognize the location based on your drawing.

4.       With a partner: choose an object, such as a favorite mug, stuffed animal, or book. Do not tell your partner what you have chosen. Give them crayons and paper, and carefully describe the details of the object while they draw only what you tell them. Make sure you cannot see their paper, and they cannot see your object. When you think you are done describing it, you get to look at what they’ve created and see if your powers of observation and description are finely honed or could use more practice.

5 art projects to do when you’re anxious

5 art projects to do when you’re anxious

Anxiety can rear its ugly head at the worst moments.  Sometimes it is predictable – you have a presentation, or event that you are nervous about and your nerves grow, and grow. Sometimes anxiety manifests itself as a panic attack – which can be a sudden moment of heart-racing, tight-chested panic where you feel like you can’t breathe. The terrible thing about experiencing panic or anxiety, is that once you know what it feels like, it seems to come more frequently. When we experience anxiety, our bodies do a few things to protect us. We either go into flight, fight, or freeze mode. Our heart rates rise, we get tunnel-vision, and we are super-focused on the thing that is causing us anxiety. In the past, this was a survival technique. Imagine your ancestor hunting in the jungle – they are focused, breathing shallowly, and intent on every little noise. They would have had a heightened response to anything that might startle them – in order to hunt, and in case they were being hunted by their own predators. So these physical responses were helpful, then.

But when is the last time you've been hunted by an animal in the jungle? When you are preparing for a meeting, or class presentation, the responses your body has left over from years past are not necessarily the most helpful ones. Instead of shallow breathing, you want to take deep breaths, in order to get oxygen flowing to all of your body, get outside of that tunnel vision, and be able to think creatively and on your feet.

There are some people who seem like they are calm and at peace all the time. They face situations that would cause the rest of us anxiety and stress with open arms and never seem like it is a challenge. Do you want to be more like that? You can actually practice anxiety-reducing techniques, even when you are not in a stressful situation that will help you face those situations more calmly. You can build calm habits.

You can use art to do this. Art is a great way to express the inner-anxiety, and work towards calm. It has the benefit of having a tactile experience that can connect with the primal part of you that might have gone into flight/fight/freeze mode. You can also create visual reminders for yourself to keep around your home or office to get you back into a calmer state. Here are 5 different art projects you can do to practice breathing deep, having a sense of well-being and reducing your stress or anxiety.

•  Imagine that you are staring deep into a body of water. Perhaps it is the ocean, with its predictable and calming repetition of waves crashing over, and over. Maybe it is a river, splashing over rocks and branches. Maybe it is a favorite lake. In any case, think about the water, whether it keeps moving on, determined and never-ending, or a still and flat surface that you can stare at forever. Use water-color paints to capture that feeling. Use a lot of water, and as you paint, take away the lessons from the ocean, river, or lake that are helpful to you.
•  Imagine a place outdoor where you feel safe. Are there trees? Flowers? Is it in the mountains, the desert, or forest? Is there water nearby? Close your eyes and picture it, imagine what the air would feel like on your skin. Imagine the smells. Picture the light as it shines down on the plants and landscape around you. Use pastels to draw this place. Pastels are pretty messy, and smear very easily, which is why they are great for this. You are not trying to draw a perfect representation of what this place looks like, but get the calm and safe feeling across.
• Charcoal is an incredibly messy medium. It’s a great tactile experience for getting your stress out! For 30 seconds, use charcoal on paper and write words associated with your panic, pressing hard with the charcoal. After you are done, take a few minutes and think calming, helpful thoughts as you use your fingers to smear the words on the page. Take deep breaths while you do this, and watch as the harsh lines start to soften.
• People frequently describe anxiety as a monster that lives inside of them. Use clay (or play doh) to create your anxiety monster. Take a good long look at this monster, and think about what you need to defend yourself from it. Make that out of clay, and use it to defeat the anxiety. Bonus: you can smash clay, throw it, roll it into a ball and flatten it. Try taking action against your clay anxiety monster!
• If you’re facing a situation, event, or project that is contributing to your anxiety, it can help to create a visual “to do” collage. Use magazines, glue and paper to create a collage of things that will help you accomplish this goal. Forgo the scissors – rip the pages from the magazines. You’ll find that is a stress-buster in itself!

Did you try any of these? Which ones helped you overcome your anxiety? Do you use any other art techniques to help?

10 Lists to Write When You're Feeling Stuck

10 Lists to Write When You're Feeling Stuck

Everyone has moments of feeling stuck. Stymied. Directionless.  It is not a great feeling –it can spiral into apathy, depression, anxiety, and despair. Guilt and shame are frequently associated with it, and it’s hard to get rid of those voices from your past that are telling you that you are doing something wrong.  You might be watching other people accomplishing things and wondering where your motivation went. Maybe you are wondering if you ever had any to start with. Maybe this is a feeling that is far-too familiar, or maybe it’s temporary. Maybe there are other times you might be the most driven person, with goals and checklists. Maybe you’re not, and you've been feeling a little apathetic for a while now.  It could be because you have a few really big projects looming, and you are having difficulty with where to start. Maybe you’re feeling guilty that you aren't doing more, so you don’t do anything at all. Maybe you’re a perfectionist, so if you can’t do something perfectly you don’t try at all. Maybe you are a caretaker, putting other’s needs in front of your own for so long that you are having trouble getting back to you.

 When you’re in that sort of funk, it can be hard to see a way out. I am a big believer of writing – I think putting things down on paper makes you accountable, helps define and articulate your thoughts, and frees up your brain from excessive worry and spiraling. When you are feeling stuck, however, the thought of putting pen to paper, or filling up that blank screen can be intimidating or distasteful. That’s why I love lists. Lists are simple. Lists are easy. Lists can be one-word answers, or you can elaborate. They’re like a warm-up before you exercise, they get the mind all limber and sweaty. So if you are feeling stuck, here is a list of lists to write. Use them how you need to use them – one at a time over the course of weeks, or a marathon-listing right now.

·         10 things I want to do before I die

·         10 beautiful places I have already been

·         My 10 favorite pinterest projects

·         10 of the most energetic songs I know

·         10 things that need to happen to get to one of my “things I want to do before I die”

·         10 most inspiring people

·         10 reasons I Just Don’t Wanna

·         10 times I have been proud of myself

·         10 things that other people are asking of me

·         10 things that could happen if I went outside today

Go forth and write lists! Let this list inspire you to make your own set of lists! Which did you find particularly helpful? Any new ideas you’d like to share?

zen doodle

I run a challenge group on facebook, where everyone picks something they want to do every day for 30 days.  One of the group members does a 'zen doodle' daily. She inspired me -- my paper journal is now full of them! It's awesome. I zone out with pen and paper next to husband who is watching tv or playing computer games... it's meditative. I wouldn't've thunk it, but it is.

For the record, I also bought a few new micropens at Blue Rooster - a small and local art supply store on Vermont. It's not a huge store, but it's got paint, pens, journals, markers, charcoal and canvas. And it's nearby. Score.